1. REMEMBERING 2O10’S WILDFIRES Walter Hays, Global Alliance for Disaster Reduction, University of North Carolina, USA

2. 2010 THE YEAR OF “RECORD AND NEAR-RECORD” NATURAL DISASTERS

3. Natural Phenomena that Cause Disasters Planet Earth’s atmospheric- lithospheric interactions cause:  Wildfires

4. WILDFIRES are conflagrations caused by lightning discharges (or acts of man) in wilderness areas close enough to one or more urban interfaces that they threaten people, property, infrastructure, and business enterprise.

5. THE WILDERNESS AREAS typically contain national forests, national parks, or resorts and the adjacent urban areas typically contain large, expensive homes.

6. SCIENCE OF WILDFIRES

7. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) FIRE HOT GASES AND SMOKE HOT SPOTS BURNED OUT SLOPES (with increased susceptibility to insect infestation, erosion, and landslides)

8. WILDFIRE HAZARDS (AKA POTENTIAL DISASTER AGENTS) SUNDOWNER WINDS SANTA ANNA WINDS LOCAL CHANGES IN AIR QUALITY LOCAL CHANGES IN WEATHER

9. WILDFIRES CAN CAUSE HIGH-RISK SITUATIONS Any wildfire, whatever the cause, can be devastating to people, property, infra- structure, business enterprise, individual livelihoods, wildlife, and the environment.

10. COMMUNITYCOMMUNITY DATA BASES AND INFORMATION HAZARDS: GROUND SHAKING GROUND FAILURE SURFACE FAULTING TECTONIC DEFORMATION TSUNAMI RUN UP AFTERSHOCKS HAZARD MAPS INVENTORY VULNERABILITY LOCATION RISK ASSESSMENT RISK ACCEPTABLE RISK UNACCEPTABLE RISK WILDFIRE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION PREVENTION/MITIGATION PREPAREDNESS INTERVENTION/ RESPONSE RECOVERY and RECONSTRUCTION POLICY OPTIONS

11. EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES FOR FIGHTING WILDFIRES FORECASTS OF WEATHER CONDITIONS MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES (E.G., REMOTE SENSING, TEMPER-ATURE, HUMIDITY, WINDS) WARNING SYSTEMS INTERVENTION STRATEGIES FORECASTS OF WEATHER CONDITIONS MONITORING TECHNOLOGIES (E.G., REMOTE SENSING, TEMPER-ATURE, HUMIDITY, WINDS) WARNING SYSTEMS INTERVENTION STRATEGIES DATABASES FOR EACH WILDFIRE COMPUTER MODELS OF WILDFIRES MAPS; ZONING DISASTER SCENARIOS HAZARD AND RISK ASSESSMENTS DATABASES FOR EACH WILDFIRE COMPUTER MODELS OF WILDFIRES MAPS; ZONING DISASTER SCENARIOS HAZARD AND RISK ASSESSMENTS

12. 2010: IMPACTED NATIONS Russia (7 regions) USA (Arizona, California, Colorado; Utah), Bolivia, Israel…

13. SOCIETAL IMPACTS DURING 2010 600 Wildfires affected 7 regions in Russia (including Moscow), killed 34, burned 309,000 acres, and affected tens of thousands. 300 firefighters and aircraft fought wildfires in Arizona 1,700 firefighters, planes, and helicopters fought 3 wildfires near Los Angeles; thousands were evacuated

14. SOCIETAL IMPACTS DURING 2010 A wildfire that started after an auto accident in Fourmile Canyon near Boulder, Colorado, burned 7,120 acres, destroyed 100 homes, and displaced 3,500. Wildfires started by farmers in Bolivia burned 1.5 million hectares of land.

15. WILDFIRES FLAGSTAFF, AZ SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA RUSSIA BOLIVIA BOULDER, COLORADO

16. THREE WILFIRES RAGE NEAR FLAGSTAFF, ARIZONA 300 FIREFIGHTERS AND AIRCRAFT FIGHT BLAZES JUNE 20-23, 2010

17. BRINS FIRE NEAR FLAGSTAFF, AZ: JUNE 20

18. SCHULTZ FIRE NEAR FLAGSTAFF, AZ: JUNE 21

19. The communities of Fernwood, Timberline and Wupatki were evacuated because of the Shultz Fire, a massive blaze.

20. To keep the fires from spreading towards communities, firefighters built containment lines, dug trenches, cleared out brush, and sprayed hot spots with water.

21. CONTAINING THE SCHULTZ FIRE: JUNE 21

22. FIGHTING SCHULTZ FIRE: JUNE 21

23. WILFIRES IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: LEONA VALLEY AND KERN COUNTY NO DEATHS AS THOUSANDS EVACUATED JULY 27 – AUGUST 3, 2010

24. Wildfires happen every year in California, so most homes of recent construction have fire resistant roofs, stucco walls, boxed eaves, and landscapes with fire- resistant vegetation.

25. LEONA VALLEY, CA Two jumbo planes, three water- dropping helicopters, and 1,700 firefighters worked to get ahead of the blaze that broke out around 3 p.m. on Tuesday (July 27 th ) in Leona Valley, southwest of Palmdale.

26. LEONA VALLEY, CA

28. The winds generated by the fire pushed the flames north and east toward the suburbs of Los Angeles County's inland desert, causing orange flames to explode through the dry grasses, jump roads and viaducts, and speed across the rural foothills that connect Los Angeles and the high desert..

29. 15 M (50 FT) FLAMES: LEONA VALLEY, CA

30. LEONA VALLEY, CA

33. DC-10 DROPPING FLAME RETARDANT: PALMDALE CA

34. On Friday (July 30th), when five high-voltage transmission lines and 2,300 homes were threatened, contingency plans were triggered, leading to the evacuation of homes in the communities of Leona Valley and parts of Palmdale.

35. As of Friday (July 30), there was zero containment of the Leona Valley wildfire.

36. Further north in Kern County, good weather helped firefighters achieve 44 % containment for two wildfires burning in remote mountain communities near Tehachapi, on the western edge of the Mojave Desert.

37. Vegetation that hadn't burned in more than a century was fuel for the 2010 Kern County fire.

38. KERN COUNTY WILDFIRE: JULY 28

39. FIREFIGHTERS: KERN COUNTY WILDFIRE

40. KERN COUNTY WILDFIRE

41. RUSSIAN PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY 600 WILDFIRES KILL 34 AND BURN 309,000 ACRES IN 7 REGIONS JULY 29 – AUGUST 13, 2010

42. Wildfires happen in Russia about once every 30 to 40 years, so communities generally lack capability for fire fighting.

43. The hottest temperatures in 130 years across much of western and central Russia topped 35 degrees C (95 F) during a 5-week period, causing 19 peat bog fires and creating conditions that exacerbated wildfires and drought.

44. On July 29, forests in the Moscow region's Kolomna district caught fire.

45. 600 WILDFIRES WERE BURNING IN 7 REGIONS

46. 14 regions were declared an emergency situation and nearly 86,000 people were evacuated.

47. The fires destroyed more than 1,800 homes, leaving nearly 5,000 people homeless.

48. Several villages in the Nizhny Novgorod, Voronezh and Ryazan regions were reduced to ashes.

49. PRIME MINISTER PUTIN: “VILLAGES TO BE REBUILT BEFORE WINTER”

50. Russia deployed nearly a quarter of a million people (comprised of the military, professionals, and volunteers) and 25,000 pieces of equipment (including planes and helicopters) to fight the fires.

51. STRONG WINDS AND 32 C – 42 C TEMPERATURES HINDERED FIREFIGHTING

52. VORONEZH WILDFIRE

53. ONE OF 14,000 FIREFIGHTERS : VORONEZH FIRE

54. MOSCOW IN SMOKE: AUGUST 6

55. Moscow was veiled in acrid smoke from the fires, causing landmarks to disappear from view and commuters to hold handkerchiefs to their faces

56. Russia received help from the following countries: France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Turkey, and the USA, as well as from former Soviet Republics: Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

57. The USA delivered firefighting equipment (valued at $2.5 million (euro 2 million)) and the State of California contributed fire-protective clothing.

58. WILDFIRES IN BOLIVA AUGUST 19- ?, 2010

59. LOCATION OF BOLIVIA

60. 25,000 fire hotspots were burning in five of the country's nine regions on Friday, August 20, engulfing as much as 1.5 million hectares of land.

61. The fires were started illegally by farmers who burn forests and grasslands in the summer to renew and expand their agricultural lands.